Introduction

This is the second edition of the Nursing Fundamentals OER nursing textbook with CC-BY 4.0 licensing. It has been developed for entry-level nursing students based on the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) statewide nursing curriculum for the Nursing Fundamentals course (543-101), the 2023 NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN Test Plans,^[1] and the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act.^[2] Here is a summary of updates made to the second edition.

This book introduces the scope of nursing practice, various communication techniques, and caring for diverse clients. The nursing process is used as a framework for providing nursing care for the following concepts: safety, oxygenation, comfort, spiritual well-being, grief and loss, sleep and rest, mobility, nutrition, fluid and electrolyte imbalance, and elimination. Nursing care for clients with integumentary disorders and cognitive or sensory impairments is also discussed. Learning activities have been incorporated into each chapter, including case studies and NCLEX Next Generation-style questions to encourage students to develop clinical judgment while applying content to client-care situations.

This book is available for free online and can also be downloaded in multiple formats for offline use. The online version is required for interaction with adaptive learning activities included in each chapter.

The following video provides a quick overview of how to navigate the online version.

The first edition of this book was developed by the Open RN project and supported by a $2.5 million grant from the Department of Education to create five open source nursing textbooks. However, this content does not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government. More information about the Open RN project can be found at cvtc.edu/OpenRN.  The second edition of this textbook was developed using funding received from the state of Wisconsin to create, scale, and advocate for open educational resources in the Wisconsin Technical College System by the WisTech Open project. Read more about the WisTech Open project at https://www.cvtc.edu/grants/wistech.